February 18, 2000
Fran Antarctica to MM
By Rebecca Muller
( STAFF WRITER
If you've ever won
dered about the soil in Antarctica,
then Astrid Radermacher is the
person to hunt down. This senior,
born in Germany, is majoring in bi
ology and German and spent last
summer doing research at the Uni
versity of Auckland in New
Zealand. Although she did not have
the chance to travel to Antarctica
herself, her senior
thesis is on the
DNA analysis of
microbes found in
soil from there.
"The professor I
worked with in
New Zealand,
who I contacted
after finding his
name on the
Internet, was try
ing to find out
what kinds of mi
crobes could sur
vive and thrive in
the soil of Antarc
tica, and he was
using analysis to identify them."
When not overseas,
Radermacher certainly manages to
stay active at Guilford.
She is treasurer of the Ger
man club, secretary of Tri-Beta (the
biology club), a tutor for Chem9ll,
a member of Community of Writ
ers, helps students with biology,
calculus, and German, and is presi
dent of the ultimate frisbee team.
An adventure in drama: White's
By Honor McElroy
STAFF WRITER
We live in a world of sys
tems. We perceive other people
and objects. We live on assump
tions.
Imagine you are at a bus stop,
or what you thought was a bus
stop. In the midst of your musings
on the important nature of being a
cashier, a man approaches. He
tells you his name but you never
turn to look at him. Just before he
leaves, he offers you a million dol
lars to remember his name. When
you turn to find him, he has van
ished. After that, all you have are
derelicts to verify your knowledge
of the man. Maybe you are a der
elict yourself now.
This is the scene of Nathan
Earle White's play Other People.
White's play centers on skepti
cism. The play demonstrates the
juxtaposing ideas of order and
mystfery as well as the complica
"I love playing ultimate. We have
a good team with strong players
and many others becoming stron
ger as they learn more,"
Radermacher observed. Her other
hobbies include canoeing, rock
climbing, cooking, hiking, and cro
cheting—her latest project is an
afghan.
Radermacher also worked as
a Binford R.A. for one year, in the
Duke print shop and mailroom for
two, and at the information desk
for three years. However, her jobs
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S/e ist sehr gut.
Radermacher stated.
After graduation in May, she
plans to work as an emergency
medical technician for Guilford
County for a year, during which
time she will apply to medical
school. "Working as an EMT will
bring that phase to a whole new
level. I mean, what better feeling
than knowing that the person was
saved because of vou?"
tions of language and communi
cation, and forces the audience to
ask, "how do I really have knowl
edge of anything?"
The power of White's play is
in his dialogue. Lines like "What
am I supposed to believe? Angels
arrive in the morning, and I've
read anything is beautiful when
you say it is" lingered in my mind
after the play was finished. The
lines are provoking not only for
a poetic use of dialogue, but also
for the questions within.
The ambiguity of White's
play gives the actors and the au
dience a fertile ground for inter
pretation of the play. Theatre
Studies Professor Jack Zerbe
commented that White "lays out
a lot of detail"(in terms of what
the characters should be) yet the
actors can still "co-create by
scripting their characters inner
monologue." Actor Gabe Fertman
got into his role by imagining the
supposed bus stop "was really a
state of purgatory just before
The Guilfordian
Features
did not stop
here—"Working
as a camp counse
lor for three sum
mers also gave me
a feeling of having
accomplished
something com
pletely worth
while —watching
kids grow-up over
the course of the
summer and
knowing that you
were a vital part
of that process is a
pretty satisfying
feeling,"
AARON THOMPSON
don't be like this guy...
put some clothes on. ,
ii i
V*s?i§ "a
g.
Clothing and random stuff are
on sale, TODAY Feb. 18th.
rorch of Mary Hobbs.
10 am - 4 pm tor whenever it's all gone)
We are Roots Discovery. This event is to help fundraise money so
that students can attend an undoing racism seminar focusing on
leadership and community. Call x 3245 for any questions.
hell."
Zerbe felt that "the acting and
directing were successful in that
they captured the stylistic unique
ness of White's play." They made
"the reason for the words seem self
evident." The trick of the direct
ing and acting is to make the audi
ence feel the author's purpose; yet
at the same time to produce the
play as it stands, separate from the
playwright.
Fertman, who played Derek,
commented that this style of the
play creates a tough job for the ac
tors. Without set or a traditional
development of character, the ac
tors must really create a strong
energy themselves to bring the
audience into the play. Fanny
Long did an outstanding job as
White's mystery woman. I found
myself automatically drawn to
stare at the ceiling when she said
"Meteor shower tonight. Watch
closely along the Eastern horizon
between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m." She
then proceeded to barely look
away from the ceiling for the rest
of the play.
Ryan Sloan, as Man With and
Without a Hat, was a vibrant and
intriguing pull, with smooth dia
logue that was easily picked up.
I liked the substance of his for
mal demeanor in the midst of the
chaotic surface of the play. Yet
other characters such as Woman
with Glasses played by Colleen
Sullivan added a muddling con
fusion because I could not find
something concrete in the ab
stract nature of her dialogue.
Other People lost me at mo
ments despite the way it spoke
to me. Despite the powerful dia
logue, I had a hard time catching
all of the words or fully feeling
their weight because of lines said
too quickly. The confusion in the
relationship between the audi
ence and the play's actors is ironic
though. It simply demonstrates
the problems with language and
perception which White's play
centers around.
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